Just like human personal assistants, digital assistants or virtual assistants can perform requested tasks and provide requested advice, information, or services. An assistant's ability to fulfill a user's request is dependent on the assistant's correct comprehension of the request or instructions. Recent advances in natural language processing have enabled users to interact with digital assistants using natural language, in spoken or textual forms, rather than employing a conventional user interface (e.g., menus or programmed commands). Such digital assistants can interpret the user's input to deduce the user's intent; translate the deduced intent into actionable tasks and parameters; execute operations or deploy services to perform the tasks; and produce outputs that are intelligible to the user. Ideally, the outputs produced by a digital assistant should fulfill the user's intent expressed during the natural language interaction between the user and the digital assistant.
The ability of a digital assistant system to produce satisfactory responses to user requests depends on the natural language processing, knowledge base, and artificial intelligence implemented by the system. A well-designed response procedure can improve a user's experience in interacting with the system and promote the user's confidence in the system's services and capabilities.